


To Be Called Alike

by liuet



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22285582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liuet/pseuds/liuet
Summary: Post-S3. Gino and Kougami discussing their relationship and friendship and Akane. Mostly fluff.
Relationships: Ginoza Nobuchika/Kougami Shinya/Tsunemori Akane
Comments: 13
Kudos: 38





	To Be Called Alike

They were between missions. In transit to… somewhere. It didn’t matter where they went, at this point. Kougami was always a little ill at ease when they returned to Japan, but Ginoza looked forward to returning to his home country. It was when they left again that he started to feel forlorn.

Ginoza was staring out the window of the plane, only half-paying attention to what Kougami was saying until he heard a name.

“What?” he snapped, surprise coloring his tone. “What did you say?”

“I said I had a very strange sense of cognitive dissonance when I went to see Akane,” Kougami repeated, unsure of what had irked his friend.

Ginoza scowled. “Since when do you drop formalities with Tsunemori?”

 _Ah,_ thought Kougami, _that’s what this is about._ Out loud, he teased, “Why? Are you jealous, Gino?”

“Tch.” Ginoza refused to deign that with a response. He was _not_ jealous. Not of Kougami calling Tsunemori by just her given name, the closeness between them, Tsunemori’s obvious affection for Kougami, and certainly not of Tsunemori being the object of Kougami’s attention. Ginoza had worked with Tsunemori for years longer than Kougami had, he knew her better. He’d also known Kougami for longer than she had, regardless of their fraught relationship while Kougami had been his Enforcer.

Kougami leaned over, good-naturedly elbowing Ginoza. “Would you like me to call you Nobuchika?”

“It’s been nearly twenty years. Don’t you dare start calling me that now.”

“Why not?”

“I will punch you.”

“Are you blushing?”

“ _No_ ,” Ginoza insisted, but both of them knew that he was.

Their humor held for another few quiet minutes before falling back into their usual companionable ease. 

“Do you think we’ll all three be together again?” Ginoza asked into the silence, once again looking out the window.

“Of course we will,” Kougami replied almost immediately. “Akane still believes it. You should have more faith in her.”

“I do,” Ginoza replied. “All of my faith is in her. But I can’t help but worry.”

The corner of Kougami’s mouth quirked upwards in amusement. Some things never changed. He put a hand on Ginoza’s shoulder, a gesture of affection, of support. “Keep your mind on what’s ahead of you, Gino. We’ve both had plenty of time already to worry needlessly.”

Ginoza appreciated both the physical gesture and the reminder. Left to his own devices, especially after he’d become a latent criminal, he was unfortunately prone to creating worst-case scenarios in his mind. He tried to stay realistic, logical, cool-headed, but there were some tendencies that had always been difficult to curb. 

“You’re right,” Ginoza agreed. “My time would be better spent worrying about you, wouldn’t it?”

“I thought the idea was for none of us to make the others worry.” Akane had told Kougami once that she didn’t want them to worry about her. She was safe where she was. She had also tasked him with watching Ginoza’s back, keeping both of them safe while they were out on missions. She didn’t want to lose either of them.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Ginoza grumbled. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Figure it out.”

“I’d rather have you tell me… Nobuchika.”

To give him credit, Ginoza moved _fast_. Kougami didn’t have time to move out of the way of the punch, and then immediately brought his hand up to cover his nose. 

“ _Oi_ , that’s low. That was your left hand!”

“And?”

“That _hurt_ , damn it!”

Ginoza crossed his arms with a satisfied expression. “It was supposed to.”

Kougami’s own expression shifted back to amusement, and he relaxed. After a few moments, Ginoza relaxed, too, a small smile briefly alighting on his face. 

“Save your affections for Tsunemori.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be a little more affectionate with her, either, Gino--”

“I know.”

“--but I know she understands you at least as well as I do.”

Ginoza blinked in surprise, and then laughed softly. 

He had to admit, they did all understand one another very well.

**Author's Note:**

> In Japanese, there's a concept called "yobi-sute" (呼び捨て, lit. "discard call"), which is calling someone by their name without adding any kind of suffix to it (-san, -kun, -sama, etc). Technically this applies to family name and/or given name, but it's a much higher degree of closeness to do it with someone's given name. Kougami does this to Tsunemori once at the very end of S1, and I like to think that sometime later (post-movie) he starts doing it again. (Gino, being a more reasonable level of professional/polite, usually just calls her Tsunemori, and I imagine he is appalled at Kougami's breach of etiquette.)
> 
> Super thanks to mss3ng for always letting me come yell about my Psycho Pass feelings and making sure I haven't committed grammatical heresy before posting.


End file.
